The winds have eased for the fleet and backed to the west, after 40 knots from the northwest made for a dramatic first chapter in the Southern Ocean.

Team Save the Children, who turned back to Hobart so that injured crewman Adrian ALBRIGHTON (GBR) could be airlifted to hospital, are now 145nm from fleet leaders Imagine It. Done. and Barclays Adventurer who are still locked together in joint first position.

ALBRIGHTON, who was injured after an exceptionally large wave hit the yacht and it became airborne, is being treated in the Royal Hospital, Hobart. He dislocated and chipped several pieces of bone off his hip. The doctors in Tasmania have decided against an operation and are going to treat the injury with physiotherapy.

Up at the front, Imagine It. Done. and Barclays Adventurer are once again reporting exactly the same distance to the finish, now 5,301nm. The wind is now from the west, and easing off, probably to the relief of the crews given recent conditions which have been giving the boats a pounding in 40 knot winds.

The lead yachts have been following a very similar course, all heading approximately southwest in the westerly airflow. Unusually, the leaderboard positions have remained relatively stable as the teams match one another for boat speed in the same conditions. However the wind has already shifted from the northwest to west, due to a large high-pressure system moving in from the west. As the system continues east the wind will back further to the southwest, when teams will be faced with the decision to sail deeper south, or tack back up north.

The skill with which the teams judge the wind shift will be the key for maintaining their fleet position and the most important consideration is timing. The aim is to reduce the total distance sailed by minimizing the angle through which the boat tacks, choosing the most favourable tack for making progress towards the finish. 'The weather is now giving us a bit of a reprieve after nearly 48 hours of wind in excess of 40 knots,' said Barclays Adventurer skipper, Stuart JACKSON (GBR) this morning. 'The front passed through last night giving way to sunshine this morning. We are just waiting for the wind to back to the southwest and then tack.'

Indeed the whole fleet will now be waiting to make the move. The wind will be steady for the next couple of days, which will also come as a relief to the teams because consistent winds do not require so many physically draining sail changes. After the high winds, this will be a chance to regroup.

Tom Burton (AUS) and Alison Young (GBR) hit the right note in the Laser and Laser Radial at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as they took out the top honours and qualification spots to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final.

It was double Australian gold in the Paralympic classes. Matt Bugg (AUS) came out on top in the 2.4mR whilst London 2012 Paralympic SKUD18 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) were triumphant in the two person keelboat.

Lithuania's Juozas Bernotas came out on top in the Men's RS:X whilst Russia's Stefania Elfutina was triumphant in the Women's RS:X. Both sailors claim the first Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final spots whilst Jock Calvert (AUS) and Joanna Sterling (AUS) picked up the Oceanic spots for the Emirati finale.

There was some fast paced action in the 49er and 49erFX Medal Races at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen (AUS) and Maia & Ragna Agerup (NOR) claimed the honours and Abu Dhabi final spots.

A tight group of five young Papua New Guinean (PNG) Laser sailors are stepping up their 2015 Pacific Games competition program using this week's ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. PNG is one of 33 countries represented at the important Oceanic event, the largest Olympic sailing regatta in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne, Australia will host the final Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification regatta in 2015. With just under one year until the event, the 2015 IFDS Worlds was launched at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne kick starts the journey to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with qualification spots and top ranking points available in the Australian city.

Four boats in the Volvo Ocean Race celebrated rounding the venerated landmark of Cape Horn on Monday, a pleasure cruelly denied Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) after the Chinese boat's mast was broken early in a dramatic day on Leg 5.

The wind played dirty tricks all day in Palma on the sailors and race committees who had to juggle with big shifts and different pressure. From 4 to 20 knots, and reaching 40 in some gusts, the wind turned around the bay playing with everybody's nerves.

Ghosting across the line in the inky blackness of a Mediterranean spring night, finally slicing through the finish line set on the very waters where some 40 odd years ago he cut his teeth as a young, aspiring sailor harbouring great dreams, at 01:47:00hrs local time Guillermo Altadill and his talented, ever reliable Chilean co-skipper Jose Muñoz secured second placed in this third edition of the Barcelona World Race, the round the world race for two crew which left the Catalan capital on December 31st 2014.

Algoa Bay brought lighter conditions on Sunday, and after a postponement waiting for the wind to settle, the race got underway in 7 knots of breeze from the south-east. Ted Conrads and Brian Haines from the USA were the pathfinders, and opened up the gate for the fleet as they sailed out to the right-hand side of the course.